He told one boy, aged 14: “I can get nude and rude if you can get rude with me?”

When Vickers’ identity was discovered, one boy said he “felt like an idiot”.

“I realise it was really stupid. I feel horrified about myself for doing it,” the boy said in a statement.

Vickers appeared in court on Thursday after pleading guilty to causing a boy to engage in non-penetrative activity, criminally attempting to engage a boy in sexual activity and three charges of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Ann Evans, prosecuting, said in 2013 Vickers was convicted of causing a male under 16 to engage in sexual activity and possessing indecent photographs of children.

He was given a sexual harm prevention order, banning him from contacting boys over the internet, and empowering police to monitor his internet activity.

Mrs Evans said police found Vickers had used a smart phone which he had not registered with them, and had been deleting the browser history on his laptop.

The third breach involved contact with underage boys.

Andel Singh, defending, said since his arrest last year Vickers had not been in trouble, and had been working in shops.

Judge Andrew Bright QC said Vickers was “manipulative” and a sex offender treatment program Vickers had attended had no effect.

Judge Bright said: “I am not persuaded you deserve another chance. You are 26-years-old, you are not a child anymore.

“The court is at the end of its proverbial tether with you. The only sentence is immediate custody. The public demand that people who behave in the way you did should got to prison.

“This will be your first taste of custody. You need to know if you continue to offend like this you will go to prison for longer and longer times.”

He ordered Vickers to forfeit his phone and computer, to register as a sex offender, and abide by the sexual harm prevention order indefinitely.